Rourke deserves Most Valuable, not necessarily Best Actor

The Oscars are coming. And, yes, The Wrestler is not your typical critically acclaimed movie of the year. I thought it was really good, extremely well done. It's not easy to pull off a movie like this and be taken seriously. You have to look no further than Over the Top to see that. And for taking it to the next level, Mickey Rourke certainly deserves all the praise in the world.

But as good as it was, I just don't see it as Best Actor material. They need to create a new category: Most Valuable Actor. Rourke is to The Wrestler as the T-Rex was to Jurassic Park. After seeing it, who else could fill the role and dominate the screen like that.

I think the movie's director, Darren Aronofsky, deserves a lot of the credit. The cinematographic themes and the simple, restrained character development are all beautifully orchestrated to take us to the brink of ridiculous and even cliche, while keeping the story real in the fakest of environments - strip clubs and pro wrestling rings (portrayed by Hollywood no less.)

All that being said, I will be happy if Rourke follows up his Golden Globe with an Oscar, just not leap-from-the-top-turnbuckle happy.